Tony
by lauraforthewinoswald
Summary: Anthony Williams always knew his parents were different. It felt like his mother's sci-fi novels were more factual than she lead on. It was something about her eyes when she told her stories. They weren't telling, they were remembering. But one day a woman with a manuscript entitled "Melody Malone" stopped by to shed some light on their mysterious past.
1. The Manuscript

Anthony had always known his parents were different. They weren't his birth parents but that wasn't what made them different. A young mother had left baby Tony in the hospital after his birth without any trace of where she'd gone. Lucky for Tony, a nurse named Rory Williams had made quite an impression on the woman. She'd left a note insisting Rory take care of her son.

Amelia and Rory Williams landed in New York in 1938. At a time when the threat of a complete Nazi takeover was slowly tightening around Europe like a noose. They were British immigrants but there was something more about them. Tony noticed the way they spoke sometimes, as if the future was somehow past-tense for them.

Tony was a big fan of science fiction flicks and lucky for him, his mother was filled with excellent stories. Anthony loved the stories his mother wrote but sometimes he wondered where the stories came from. They had to be fiction but Amelia told them like there was an element of truth behind them. It was something in her eyes when she spoke about them. She didn't look like she was making it up, she looked like she was remembering.

Tony was 5 when he asked why his parents never had kids before him. He was just wondering as kids often do. He wasn't thinking about what a loaded question it really was. He just wanted to know why but the question took his parents by surprise, and few things ever did.

"Umm... I... Rory?" Amy insisted her husband take over.

Rory knelt down to his son's eye level to speak. "We had a baby once before we had you. We were 20 years younger then... give or take. It's hard to keep track." Rory did his best to keep his timelines straight. "We had a little girl named Melody. But we lost her and we could never have a baby again after that. A medical complication..." Rory looked up at his wife as she nervously poured her tea. "It was hard for us so we didn't know when we'd be ready for a child again. But then we found you." Mr. Williams ruffled his son's hair and smiled.

Anthony wanted so badly to ask how they lost his would-be older sister. But after seeing how his first question rattled his mother, he decided it was best to drop the subject. Growing up with a father who worked long hours at the hospital had taught Tony from an early age that life and death were always fighting one another for dominance. Not just for the old but for the young too. He figured his sister must have lost that battle.

Tony was 12 when the mysterious woman came to visit. He'd only recently been deemed old enough to stay home alone while his mother ran her errands. He heard a knock on the door and there she was, a statuesque and strong woman with wild blonde curls. She seemed confused at the sight of Anthony answering the door.

"Is this the Williams' residence?" She asked.

"Yes, but my mom's not home right now." Tony figured the woman was looking for his mother. She had what looked like a manuscript in hand, she was most likely from publishing.

"Is your mother Amelia Pond?" The woman asked as she looked over his head at the living room, like she was searching for clues.

Anthony raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "You're from Leadworth, aren't you?" His parents rarely spoke about their lives before arriving in New York. All he knew was where they were from. He was excited to meet someone who might be able to shed some light on their past.

"Yes, I am. I'm an old friend." She answered.

"I knew it! Because you know my mom by her maiden name and you talk like my dad!" Tony sounded so proud of himself as if he'd solved some big mystery.

"You're absolutely right. You're a regular Dick Tracy." The woman smiled but there was something bittersweet about the look in her eyes. "I didn't know they had a son." She whispered. After a quick moment, she regained her composure. "And where's your father?"

"Working at the hospital. He won't be home till really late but mom only went down the road to the grocery store so I'm sure she'll be home in a few minutes if you want to wait." Anthony opened the door wider to invite her in.

"No, thank you. I really shouldn't stay long." She looked at the strange watch on her wrist. "If I stay another minute all of New York might implode on itself. Just take this and make sure Amy gets it. It's incredibly important." She handed Tony the manuscript and walked away quickly.

He put the manuscript on the kitchen table and read the cover. "Melody Malone". He was tempted to untie the brown strings holding the papers closed but figured it best to leave it alone. His mother always told him about what stories she was writing, so why had he never heard of this one?

"Tony?" His mother's voice came ringing down the hall. "You left the door open. I thought you said you could be alone now. I thought you were a big boy now!"

"I am a big boy." Anthony ran down the hall to meet his mother in the living room. "I'm sorry I forgot. There was a lady who dropped off a manuscript for you."

"What? I'm not expecting anything." Amy threw her coat on the couch and walked to the kitchen. There was a pause of silence followed by panic. "Rory!" Amy screamed. "I need Rory!"

Anthony quickly ran into the kitchen. "He's working, remember? Are you ok?" He asked.

"I'm fine just... go watch TV or read one of your comics or something... there's cereal if you want anything to eat... I have to go.." Amy walked back into her study in a daze.


	2. The Truth

"Anthony Williams!" His father whispered as he walked in form a long night at work. "It's past midnight. What are you doing up?"

"Mom's in one of her moods." Tony whispered back and turned off the TV. It was then that they could hear the quiet whimpering coming from Amy's study.

Rory ran into the study and shut the door behind him. Tony stood as close as he could by the door and peeked through the tiny crack his father had left open. He knew it was rude to eavesdrop but he just had to know what was going on. He didn't want to be treated like a kid anymore. He was a whole 12 and a half years old and he was tired of his parents shielding him from whatever secrets they were hiding. He just knew there were things they weren't telling him.

Tony's mind raced with ideas about why their past was so mysterious. Perhaps his parents had seen too much during the war. They might be refugees with new identities or maybe secret spies. He loved to imagine they were a covert counterintelligence team for the allied forces during the war and they had so many valuable pieces of information that could take the government down, they just had to go into hiding.

He'd recently caught his mother dancing to The Atomic Mr. Basie record in a surprisingly provocative fashion while she did the dishes. Amy laughed when she noticed her son had been watching. "You know I wasn't always your old boring, dishwashing housewife." She sighed. "I used to be a bit of a performer in my day, a big hit at all the swingingest parties in town."

"A performer? Like Ann Miller?" Anthony asked surprised by the revelation.

Amy chuckled. "I wasn't nearly as talented but I did have some great costumes." She went back to her dishes, looking longingly out the window, as she often did.

Anthony pictured his mother in her younger days in sequin bodysuits and racy pin-up costumes and shivered a little at the thought with embarrassment. But it made him smile a bit to think that everyone was young once. He could tell how much she missed it sometimes, she'd just hit 50. A mid-life crisis loomed over her, a shadow of her former glory coming back to haunt her. That's how she saw herself but Tony always thought she was one of the toughest and strongest women he'd ever met. He was quite proud of his momma.

"Amy, what is it?" Rory whispered as he tried to make sense of his wife's tears.

"It was her. She was here, Rory." Amy stifled the urge to cry again. "River was here and I missed her."

"This is the book." Rory looked over the manuscript. "You're the one who had it published so he could read it."

"She wrote a note." Amy handed the paper to Rory. "It says we should write him a message, an afterwords. Something to show that we're ok."

"That's a good idea." Rory nodded. "I was thinking maybe I ought to do something similar for dad. Just have it sent to him soon after we last saw him so he knows we're safe in the past." Rory sighed in frustration. "Our life is such a damn mess, isn't it?"

"I miss it sometimes but I hope you know that I don't regret following you." Amy put her arms around her husband. "I get so lost in my own head sometimes I forget to tell you that I love you."

"I know" Rory smiled and gave his wife a soft kiss on her forehead. "You said The Doctor told you traveling in the Tardis back to New York would rip a hole in the universe after all the paradoxes we pulled. So River must have used the vortex manipulator."

Tony's head reeled as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing. It was all starting to click, his mother's stories really did have truth in them. Holes in the universe? Votex manipulators? Were his parents really from England? Were they even humans?

Suddenly afraid his parents might have alien supersonic hearing, he ran back to his room and hid under the covers. River seemed to be the name of the woman at the door. Was she also alien? If they were alien, how did they look so human? Were they wearing a disguise? Tony began to scare himself as he thought the worst of what might be happening.

"Anthony?" Rory called out to his son sounding a bit worried. He found Tony in his bedroom wrapped in blankets. "May I come in?" Rory smiled and sat beside him on the bed. "The woman you met today, she didn't say who she was?"

"Only that she was your friend from Leadworth." Tony peeked his head out from the mountain of covers. "Was she telling the truth?"

"Yeah, she was." Rory sighed. "It's all a very long story best left for another time. Just know Amy's going to be alright, you get some sleep."

"Dad, I want to know the truth. You're lying about something because you think I can't take it. But I can." Anthony slowly found the courage to let go of his blankets. "I'm going to be 13 in a few months, you know. I'm not a little kid anymore."

"You're right but this is something even most adults couldn't begin to understand. I hardly understand and I'm living it." Rory rolled his eyes.

"I heard you and mom talking about ripping the universe apart like you're from some other world on the other side of a black hole." Tony stood up from the bed to confront his father. "Just tell me the truth, I already know you're aliens so explain who Melody Malone is and why her manuscript is so important."

"I was worried about the day I'd have to explain all this, I was hoping I'd never have to." Rory bit his lip worried. "You are right, I've travel through outer space but I'm 100 percent human. Same goes for your mom. We're just time travelers, we're from Earth's future but we got stuck in the past." Rory looked at his son's stupefied expression. "I told you this would be hard to explain."


End file.
